The Role of Alcohol Use in Emergency Department Episodes

Abstract

This study investigates the association between alcohol use and emergency-department (ED) utilization in the United States using nationally representative data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey (N = 33,326). Estimates from our probit models indicate that among men, current drinkers are less likely to have visited the ED in the past year than former drinkers. Among women, lifetime abstainers are less likely than current drinkers to have had an ED episode. Finally, frequency of binge drinking significantly increases the likelihood of ED visits for men. The results suggest that focusing solely on problem drinking provides a limited perspective.

Keywords:

• binge drinking
• emergency department (ED)
• episodic drinkers
• health care utilization

Acknowledgments

This project was funded by two research grants (R01 AA015695 and R01 AA13167) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The research was partially completed while Gulcin Gumus and Heather L. Turner were at the Health Economics Research Group, Department of Sociology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. We gratefully acknowledge Ana I. Balsa and Silvana K. Zavala for their technical suggestions, and Carmen Martinez, Venessa Wilson, and William Russell for reviewing and editing various versions of the manuscript. We would like to thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments on the paper.

Notes

*,

**, and

*** denote statistically significant differences in variables between men and women based on the Wilcoxon rank-sum test at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively.

^a Fewer than 12 drinks in their entire life.

^b At least 12 drinks in their life, but fewer than 12 drinks in any one year and no drink in the past year.

^c At least 12 drinks in their life and 12 drinks in a single year, but no drink in the past year.

^d At least 12 drinks in their life and 1 drink in the past year.

^e At least 12 drinks in their life and 1–11 drinks in the past year.

^f At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and 3 drinks or fewer per week, on average.

^g At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and more than 3 drinks and up to 14 drinks per week (for men) or more than 3 drinks and up to 7 drinks per week (for women).

^h At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and more than 14 drinks per week (for men) or more than 7 drinks per week (for women).

*,

**, and

*** denote statistical significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively.

^a Fewer than 12 drinks in their entire life.

^b At least 12 drinks in their life, but fewer than 12 drinks in any one year and no drink in the past year.

^c At least 12 drinks in their life and 12 drinks in a single year, but no drink in the past year.

*,

**, and

*** denote statistical significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively.

^a Fewer than 12 drinks in their entire life.

^b At least 12 drinks in their life, but fewer than 12 drinks in any one year and no drink in the past year.

^c At least 12 drinks in their life and 12 drinks in a single year, but no drink in the past year.

^d At least 12 drinks in their life and 1 drink in the past year.

^e At least 12 drinks in their life and 1–11 drinks in the past year.

^f At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and 3 drinks or fewer per week, on average.

^g At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and more than 3 drinks up to 14 drinks per week (for men) or more than 3 drinks up to 7 drinks per week (for women).

^h At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and more than 14 drinks per week (for men) or more than 7 drinks per week (for women).

^a Fewer than 12 drinks in their entire life.

^b At least 12 drinks in their life, but fewer than 12 drinks in any one year and no drink in the past year.

^c At least 12 drinks in their life and 12 drinks in a single year, but no drink in the past year.

^e At least 12 drinks in their life and 1–11 drinks in the past year.

^f At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and 3 drinks or fewer per week, on average.

^g At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and more than 3 drinks per week up to 14 drinks per week (for men) or more than 3 drinks per week up to 7 drinks per week (for women).

^h At least 12 drinks in their life, 12 drinks in the past year, and more than 14 drinks per week (for men) or more than 7 drinks per week (for women).